


Love Away Our Fears

by melodicchaos



Category: The Prom - Sklar/Beguelin/Martin
Genre: F/F, Hockey/Figure Skating AU, Mayhaps you could call this a check please au, get ready for hockey nicknames
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-06
Updated: 2020-03-15
Packaged: 2020-06-22 06:20:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19661587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melodicchaos/pseuds/melodicchaos
Summary: Emma Nolan was the only girl on the hockey team.Alyssa Greene was the star figure skater.Seems like fate for them to meet, right?





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> I finally finished the first chapter, after delaying forever! I love the prom, and I love check please! So here we are! The union!

Emma thought she had the right time. She could have sworn she had the right time, because the email from her coach said one thing, but here she stood, in the stands of the rink with all her gear, and yet figure skaters were still practicing. 

Figure skaters were the bane of Emma’s existence. Figure skaters were the reason she got into hockey in the first place. In figure skating, you couldn’t fight, even though the girls were some of the meanest and bitchiest people Emma had ever met. In hockey, she got checked all the time. One of the main points of hockey was to get checked, for crying out loud! If you didn’t get checked, were you really playing hockey? 

But, there was one girl gliding across the ice. Her chocolate brown hair was twisted up in a bun, and the salmon pink sweater she wore seemed to pop against her tanned skin. She moved like an angel across the ice, gliding with grace and moving as though the ice was her place to unwind. Emma had never seen her before, but then again she had never seen many of the figure skaters besides the ones she had the great pleasure of dealing with in her own days of figure skating. This girl...this girl was different. While everyone else was chatting by the edges of the rink, not particularly focused on practice, this girl had headphones in and she was practicing non-stop, doing spins and jumps until her fingers seemed to turn blue and everyone else had cleared out of the rink. 

“Hey, ‘Lys, practice is over!” one girl called to the girl in the rink. “Let the hockey team have a turn on the ice!” 

“Five more minutes!” the girl - ‘Lys - cried. “I’m so close to perfecting my layback, and if it's not good before competition, Veronica will be crazy mad at me!” 

Emma began to lace up her skates and put her gear before skating onto the rink. Yes, she was always the first person on the ice, but it gave her the advantage to be warmed up before warm ups began. The guys on the team made fun of her, but she was good at what she did. As Emma was entering the rink, and the girl was exiting, they bumped into each other, the girl tumbling to the ice. 

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” Emma cried, looking down at her. “I didn’t mean to!” The girl was pretty - really pretty - even after skating. Blemish free tanned skin, deep brown eyes, and soft chocolate brown hair. 

“You’re fine, I promise,” the girl smiled. “I’m used to falling on the ice. I have to be. I’m Alyssa, by the way. I’ve seen you around. You play on the coed hockey team, right?” 

“Yeah,” Emma nodded, completely gobsmacked. “I’m..I’m Emma.” 

“Nice to meet you, Emma. Well..I’ll see you around,” Alyssa stood up, brushing the excess ice from her butt before waving to Emma. 

Practice carried on as practice did. The guys were their normal selves - joking around, pushing each other across the ice, all the things that was expected in normal hockey practice - until their captain, Nick - Boomer to his teammates, number 17 on the ice - called for a little bit of checking practice. 

Checking was Emma’s least favorite thing about hockey. She wanted to be treated like one of the guys if she was to play on the boy’s hockey team, and that meant she had to follow all of their procedures. And that meant checking was not only part of the game, but occasionally encouraged. It felt so horrible, being pushed around and shoved against the glass like a piece of meat. But, it was part of the game, and she knew Nick meant well by the checking practice. A lot of teams were dirty in their checks, and he just wanted them prepared. 

But, Emma’s mind was only on Alyssa. Her shiny, soft hair, and warm brown eyes. Her infectious smile and laugh. The way that pink sweater popped against her tanned skin and —

Smack. Before she knew it, Emma’s body had collided against the walls of the rink, and she had fallen to the ice. 

“Shit, Nolansky! Where is your head today?!” Kevin - Wester - called out to her as he skated over to her. 

Emma stood up slowly, regaining her balance. “I don’t know. Sorry, guys. I’m just going to go sit,” she sighed, skating towards the benches with Wester’s help. 

“Coach Hawkins is going to take a look and make sure you didn’t severely hurt yourself,” Boomer called to her, before continuing checking practice. 

Emma settles into the bench, taking off her helmet and unlacing her skates as Coach Hawkins made his way over and settled down next to her. Coach Hawkins had been her advocate since day one, he was the one who encouraged Coach Baker to let Emma onto the team, and to let her play defense rather than just sit on the bench every game. 

“Emma, where are you today? You’re usually on top of your game, and you can usually take a check, this isn’t like you..” Coach Hawkins sighed, shining a flashlight in her eyes. 

Emma blinked a few times, shaking her head. “I don’t know, Coach. I thought I was on top of it when practice started, but then I guess not,” she shrugged. 

Coach Hawkins tucked the flashlight into his jacket pocket. “Well, no sign of a concussion. Does anything hurt too much?” he asked, settling on the bench next to Emma. 

“No,” she concluded. 

“Well, take it easy for this practice. Sit this one out. You’ll be fine to practice next practice. Now, do you want to tell me what’s actually bothering you, because I could see something behind your eyes.” Emma took a deep breath, looked out at her team out on the ice, and began telling Hawkins about Alyssa, and their encounter earlier in the day. “Ah, Alyssa. Alyssa Greene. She’s one of the figure skaters. One of the best, actually. She’s a sweet kid. Helps out during hockey tournaments and runs the snack shack to get her community service hours. Her mother is...something else.”

Emma frowned. “How come I’ve never seen her before?” 

“She likes to make her mother happy, and to do that she practices a lot. Before school, after school, right when the rink opens, as it’s closing, you’re only here a half hour before and after practice,” Hawkins grinned. “You like her.”

“I think so, yeah.” 

“Good. She’s a good kid, and you deserve to be happy.”


	2. Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emma and Alyssa meet again, and Emma’s fallen hard for the pretty girl from the figure skating team.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven’t forgotten about this, I promise! Okay...maybe I did. But I also didn’t have many ideas and life got in my way but here is chapter 2!

A week passed and Emma hadn’t seen Alyssa. She showed up an hour early to practice, but Alyssa wasn’t there. She stayed late, but Alyssa never showed. 

“She’s so weird,” she heard some of the figure skaters say one day before practice as they were leaving. “It’s like she’s stalking us or something.” 

Was she stalking? Emma just wanted to get Alyssa’s number so they could talk more because she really liked her and wanted to get to know her better, but that wasn’t stalking, was it? 

Maybe she was stalking. She should back off of Alyssa and stay away from the figure skating girls, because they clearly don’t want to be around her, or for her to be around them. These figure skating girls were the reason Emma stopped skating, but if Alyssa was there..no. 

Eventually Alyssa did show up. This time she had on a lavender sweater that hugged her just right (Emma caught herself staring a bit too long), a black skirt, and her bright white skates. 

“Oh, hi!” she smiled. “Hopefully I won’t run into you again and fall on my butt.” 

“I’ll try not to make you fall,” Emma laughed, brushing her hands on her shirt. “Anyway, uh, this might be a bit forward but I wanted to give you my number because I want to get to know you better because you seemed nice and not like the other figure skaters - not that they’re bad people, just you were so sweet and you seem like a good person to be friends with - not that they wouldn’t be but..oh my god..” 

Alyssa smiled, taking out her phone. “Here, put it in, and then smile!” she laughed. 

“Oh no,” Emma groaned. “My hair is a mess, you don’t want to take a photo of me like this.”

“You look fine, please?” Alyssa begged, as Emma handed her the phone and gave her a small smile after smoothing her hair. Alyssa positioned her phone at the perfect angle, before clicking the shutter button on her screen. “See! You look nice!” 

Emma blushed, looking at the photo. She did look okay, her cheeks were still slightly flushed from the pre-practice workout, her hair was that messy-chic other girls talked about, and her smile looked nice. “I look fine, I guess. Can you text me so I can save your number to my phone?” 

“Yeah, sure,” Alyssa nodded, typing on her cell before Emma’s phone pinged in her bag with a message. 

Unknown number: hi, it’s Alyssa! :) 

Emma’s heart fluttered in her chest, but she shoved her phone into her bag again before her face could get too red. She couldn’t explain why Alyssa had taken over her thoughts and made her paralyzed with giddiness and fear. It was as if the crush on Alyssa was a parasite in her body, taking over and eating her from the inside out until she was a pile of mush on the ground. But practice was about to start, and she had to snap out of it. 

“I’ll text you,” she promised, before going to bend down to put on her skates, only to bump heads with Alyssa who was untying her skates. “Oh, God, I’m sorry! Again!” 

“Nolansky! Let’s go, practice,” Syd called to her, nudging Emma in the shoulder. Emma gave Alyssa an apologetic smile before skating onto the ice. 

Practice consisted mostly of drills - Emma could tell Nick wasn’t really feeling practice and the coaches didn’t care what they what they did. She didn’t care because drill practices meant the team talked like a team, about whatever the hell they wanted. Because they could. 

“So, Emma,” Alex started as he passed Emma the puck. “Who was the girl you were talking to earlier?” 

Emma blushed, holding onto her stick a bit tighter. “You know, just a friend,” she shrugged, passing the puck to Grey. 

“A friend who looks like she’s a figure skater,” Kevin piped up, skating over to the group. 

“Shut it, or I’ll ‘accidentally’ check you straight into the wall,” Emma shot back. “What would you know about figure skaters anyway?” 

Kevin fell silent, his face turning as red as his shirt. Though he never used his words, Nick kept looking back at the pod of people, signaling to them that there needed to be less chatting, and more practicing. 

Practice ended early, however, but Emma remained on the ice, skating around freely. Her headphones, now plugged into her phone, blasted music so loud she couldn’t hear anyone, or anything for that matter. 

A tap on her shoulder caused her to jump, and turn. “Hey,” Alyssa greeted, a soft, warm look in her eyes. 

“Hi, you scared me,” Emma turned on her skates to face Alyssa. “What are you doing here?” 

“I could ask you the same,” Alyssa smiled, skating backwards. “My mom was going ballistic about ‘not practicing enough’ so I came just to get her off my case,” she explained, making air quotes. 

“I just didn’t feel like leaving. My grandma didn’t expect me home until after normal practice time, and we ended early, so I just hung out,” Emma shrugged, shooting the puck into the goal in one smooth swish. 

They skated in awkward silence for a bit, the only noise being the hum of the generators and air conditioning units and the scratch of their skates on the ice before Alyssa spoke up again. 

“If you’re here late again, we could make this a normal thing? You could teach me to play hockey, or I can teach you to figure skate..” she suggested, playing with the fabric of her sweater. 

Emma’s face lit up. “That sounds amazing, actually. I’d love to learn to figure skate,” she grinned. 

“Great! So, it’s a date!” Alyssa nodded, before realizing her statement and turning pink. “Uh...normal thing.”

“Yeah..I better get going. I’ll see you around, Alyssa. I’ll text you to figure out when we can do that,” Emma answered, skating off the ice. 

As she drove home, Emma’s mind was running a million miles an hour. Alyssa called their teaching sessions dates, but they couldn’t be actually dates, could they? No, of course not. She was just being stupid and psyching herself out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Comments and kudos aren’t necessary, but are greatly appreciated!


	3. Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After practice, Emma comes home to find...unwanted guests

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y’all thought you were getting soft greenelan content? No. Not yet. Angst ft badass Betsy and Emma

It wasn’t uncommon for Emma to see a few cars in the driveway of her grandma’s house. There was Gran’s bug, of course, a bright green emblem on the dark driveway, Gran’s friends from the farming society who came around every so often, Greg’s SUV, and of course, her faded blue pickup. 

However, the sight of the car she never thought she’d see again made her heart sink into her stomach. But, she had to go inside eventually, Gran would start to worry and Greg would start spamming her phone with ‘come inside coward’ text messages. Of course they had to come after hockey practice. They hated that she played hockey. They hated everything she did, apparently. 

Taking a deep, shaking breath, Emma grabbed her purse and turned the truck off, walking inside. Each step felt like she was moving closer to her death, until her shaking hand reached to open the front door. 

“Hi, hon, how was practice?” Betsy greeted, as though nothing was wrong. It was probably a facade, Emma told herself. Gran assumed I wouldn’t recognize the car and she’d think it was a friend and it would be fine, but nope. 

Emma swallowed hard, setting her purse and keys down on the entrance table. “It was good, Gran,” she responded thickly. “I’m going to go up and shower.” 

“Okay, well, don’t be too long, we have company for dinner!” Betsy called back, her voice slightly strained. 

Emma nodded slightly, running up the stairs as fast as she could before banging on Greg’s door. “Open up...please,” she pleaded. 

“What do you want?” Greg asked, opening the door after a few minutes. Emma scrambled inside, shutting the door behind her and sitting at Greg’s desk. “Ew, no, you just got home from practice. Stand. And I’m Febreezing the room when you leave.” 

“Why didn’t you text me to tell me they were here?!” Emma hissed, crossing her arms over her chest. “A warning would have been nice before I pulled in the driveway to see the car!” 

“You were driving! I wasn’t going to text you while you were driving!” Greg replied, crossing his legs on his bed. “Maybe it won’t be that bad?” 

Emma let out a short, sharp laugh, rolling her eyes. “You know them. Of course it’ll be bad,” she sighed. “Look...I have to go shower before they complain about everything wrong with me.” 

“Gran made her famous meatloaf. They can’t be that mad.”

Emma shrugged, before walking into the adjoining bathroom she and Greg shared. She tried to enjoy the warmth of the shower, washing away all the sweat and grime from practice, but everytime she thought about going back downstairs, her skin began to crawl. She got out, drying off her hair and going to her room, where her phone sat on her bed, untouched. She must’ve left it in Greg’s room, and he must’ve brought it in, because she didn’t remember bringing it in. 

As she finished getting ready - in a nice shirt and pants, no less, just to have dinner downstairs with her family - her phone buzzed on the quilt. Picking it up, Emma sighed. A text from Alyssa asking about scheduling, one she couldn’t answer right now. She just tossed the phone to the side and went downstairs, bracing herself for the dinner ahead of her.

“There she is!” Betsy smiled as Emma sat down awkwardly between where her grandmother and cousin were sitting, directly across from her parents. “I insisted we wait until you came down to start eating.”

“Oh, Gran, that’s okay,” Emma shook her head, plating herself some mashed potatoes. “I would have just eaten later.”

John smiled, a bit too sweetly for Emma’s taste. “Nonsense, Emma. It’s a family dinner, we had to wait for the entire family,” he explained, taking a piece of meatloaf. “It looks great, Mom.” 

“Thank you, John,” Betsy replied curtly, as her grandchildren began to eat in silence. The rest of the Nolans followed suit, before the eldest finally snapped. “Okay, what are y’all doing here? All you’re doing is messing up the dynamic I had with the kids, and stressing the poor girl out, so tell me what you’re doing here before I kick your sorry asses out like you did to my grandbaby.” 

Diane choked a bit on the glass of wine she had been drinking, staring at her mother in law. “Well, we had come to see if this little charade was up and if you were done throwing your fit and ready to come home, Emma.” 

“Excuse me?” Emma frowned. “What ‘fit?’”

“Oh, you know,” John waved his hand. “Pretending to like girls, playing hockey, dressing like some bum. That sort of thing. Everything you’re doing right now. This...phase.” 

“We just thought you would have grown out of it by now, Emma,” Diane sighed. “Moved onto something more...realistic.” 

The words stung like venom as Emma finally processed them. “Realistic for who?!” Emma snapped. “This is realistic. This is real life. Maybe not for you guys, but girls play hockey. I don’t like wearing dresses and skirts and the color pink. I like flannels and jeans and my converse. And people are fucking gay!” she shouted, standing up from the table. 

“Emma Ruth Nolan, do not take that tone with your mother and I, and get back here!” John yelled.

Emma paused, thinking. If she went back, there was the chance of having a bit of a relationship with her parents, but if she went up to her room, she would lose whatever she had left. Right now, losing everything sounded a lot better than trying to force a relationship. “You can’t tell me what to do, you aren’t my legal guardians anymore,” Emma said through tears. “So kindly fuck off.” 

She ran up the stairs again, calling behind her that she’d eat later if she was hungry. Her phone still sat on her bed, beckoning to her. Three new messages, all from Alyssa. 

[From: Alyssa] hey haven’t heard from you does that work?

[From: Alyssa] do I have the right number? this is Emma, right?

[From: Alyssa] just text me when you get the chance, you’re probably busy but I’m worried

Emma’s heart plummeted again. She didn’t mean to leave Alyssa questioning, but texting the girl she maybe-liked was the last thing she wanted to do at the moment. 

[To: Alyssa] yeah, that works. can you talk? like for real? I need to talk to someone before I blow up 

[From: Alyssa] of course, did something happen? give me five minutes, I’m getting ready for bed 

Pajamas sounded like the perfect thing right now. In the free time, Emma changed out of the dress clothes and into some comfortable pajamas, waiting for Alyssa to call. She was so focused on waiting that she didn’t hear the door open, much less someone knock. 

“Hey,” Greg waved awkwardly. “I brought dinner, and a big slice of apple pie for you.” 

“You’re the best,” Emma smiled weakly. “Are they still here?” 

Greg shook his head, setting the plate down on Emma’s bedside table. “Nah, they left soon after you got upset at them. You had a fair reason to, and Gran’s like...super pissed.”

“She should be! She raised a homophobic asshole!” Emma cried, before quieting down. “I’m probably going to stay in here for the night, a girl is supposed to be—“ she began, only to be cut off by Alyssa’s name popping up on her phone. 

“I’ll get out of here and tell Gran to leave you alone,” Greg whispered, though Emma only nodded as she answered the phone. 

“Hey,” she greeted Alyssa. 

“Hey,” Alyssa replied. “So...what’s up?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Comments and kudos aren’t necessary, but are greatly appreciated!


	4. Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emma teaches Alyssa to play hockey, and some other things happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long time no see! My New Years resolution is to keep up with this, and I won't break this, I promise. I also started Spinning Out on Netflix, which is helping. Let me know what you want to see.

Alyssa skated back, weaving her feet in and out of each other. Her light blue sweater matched the blue tint of the ice perfectly, however it didn’t suit her skin tone as much as the pink and purple did, in Emma’s opinion. 

“So let me get this straight,” she said, studying Emma quizzically. “Your parents - the same ones who kicked you out when you were sixteen because you were gay - showed up at your grandma’s house and tried to convince you that this was just a phase and you needed to snap out of it?” 

Emma nodded, toeing at the ice with the blade of her skate. “Yep,” she replied, her tone cold and dry. 

“That’s just...that’s just messed up!” Alyssa cried.

“It’s more than messed up,” Emma sighed, skating away from Alyssa. “They told me all this was a phase. Playing hockey, wearing flannels and jeans, being gay, all of it,” she stuttered out. 

“If my mom did that..I don’t know what I’d do with myself,” Alyssa mumbled to herself. “Let’s get started on our lesson. I find that skating always clears my head.” 

Emma nodded, pushing her glasses up. “Yeah..sounds good. Do you want to learn to play hockey or teach me to figure skate?” 

Alyssa blushed, the color spreading to her cheeks and ears. “Hockey scares me..so I’ll just teach you again!” 

“It’s not that scary,” Emma insisted, skating towards the boards. “You have all these pads on, and yeah you get a few concussions here and there, but it’s fun. Come on, just pass with me, then you can teach me to figure skate.” 

Alyssa sighed, picking at the lint on her sweater. “Sure...we can just pass.” 

Emma’s face lit up as she skated off the ice and grabbed two sticks and a puck. “So...just pass to me. Just hit the puck. Nice and easy.” 

“Nice and easy?” Alyssa questioned, taking the stick. Emma nodded, gently hitting the puck. Alyssa tapped the puck back with her stick, sending it to Emma. “I did it!” 

“You did it!” Emma cried. “You wanna grab lunch sometime?” 

“Uh...sure? Is dinner better?”

“Dinner’s great!” 

~~~  
“Why are you late?” Emma questioned, gently checking Kevin in the shoulder. 

Kevin grinned, checking Emma back. “I had a date. And I told Nick about it.”

Emma grinned. “A figure skater?” she chirped. 

“What's it to you?” Kevin replied, as Nick called out for partner drills before they played a scrimmage. “How’s it going with your figure skater, anyway?” 

“Hhh…” Emma stuttered out. “She...pretty…”

Kevin nodded. “Gotcha. Got any plans with her?” 

“I asked her to dinner!” she said proudly, after regaining her composure. 

“Dinner?” Kevin asked, sliding the puck around the ice. “Figure skating girls don’t eat much, Em. It’s all protein for them. I don’t get it. How can you not eat? Where is the joy in life if you can’t eat?” 

“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Emma shrugged as Hawkins blew the whistle to signal for the scrimmage. “Ready for me to kick your ass?”

“If you could see me first!” he chirped with a grin. 

“What does that even mean?”

Emma made sure to get to the restaurant early, playing some game Greg got her addicted to in order to calm her nerves. She told Alyssa six o’clock, however she was sitting in a booth of the local Applebee’s by five thirty.

“Hey, am I late?” Alyssa’s sweet voice pulled Emma from her game’s mind numbing trance. 

Hhh...girl...hot, Emma thought as she looked at Alyssa. 

“No!” Emma suddenly spoke up. “Not late at all. I’m just early, I like to get to places early. Why be late and stress about that when you can be early and be fine? Oh, god, I’m rambling, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry. It’s nice. I do it too, so it’s nice to feel validated.” Alyssa grinned. 

Emma paused, glancing at the menus to avoid staring at Alyssa. “You look nice,” she acknowledged, glancing up at the brunette’s smiling face. Alyssa’s hair was down for the first time since Emma had met her, with pieces pinned out of her face. She had a light purple shirt on that made her skin look absolutely radiant, which also made Emma lose her mind. 

“So do you!” Alyssa replied, flipping through the menu. Emma shrugged, glancing down at her outfit. Blue flannel and shirt, jeans, and her Converse. Nothing special, just a normal outfit. 

“Thanks,” the blonde replied halfheartedly. 

“I’ve never actually eaten here,” Alyssa admitted. “My mom and all the figure skating moms come here to celebrate after competitions if we do well. Usually us skaters go to someone’s house or stay at the rink.” 

“Applebee’s is Edgewater’s finest restaurant,” Emma teased. “It’s a shame you’ve never eaten here.”

“Well, now I am,” Alyssa shot back. “What else is there to do here? I haven’t left the rink or my house in years.”

“This is it. Applebee’s is all there is,” Emma grinned. “Besides...yeah, this is it.” 

The waiter came over and took their drink orders, before leaving the two again. Emma played with a piece of her napkin, not knowing what to talk about. 

“How is your hockey team going?” Alyssa asked. “I don’t really know how hockey works.” 

Emma laughed, a small blush forming on her cheeks and ears. “We’re horrible,” she admitted. “We keep practicing and I think it’s making us worse.” 

“That’s too bad,” Alyssa sighed. “You guys could be good. You have some good players.” 

“I’m not that good-” Emma interjected, taking a sip of her water. 

Alyssa shook her head. “Sure you are. And so are some of the other people...Kevin? Is that his name? He’s gone on a couple dates with my friend Shelby. Seems like a sweet guy.” 

“He is,” the blonde nodded. “The sweetest guy I’ve ever met, but I think he’s gotten a few too many concussions, if you know what I mean.” 

Alyssa frowned in confusion. “He’s just a bit dumb,” Emma explained. “Sweetheart, but not the sharpest nail in the toolbox.” 

Alyssa nodded. “Oh, makes sense.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Comments and kudos aren't necessary, but are greatly appreciated.


	5. Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A wrap up to the date, and some wholesome stuff.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long time no see...again. I’m trying guys, I am. But...I’m stuck at home for three weeks so let’s hope I can give y’all some more!
> 
> Oh! Just a warning, I do talk a bit about the very strict diets I’ve found that figure skaters have. It’s not in depth, but if that’s upsetting, skip to the line “‘being a figure skater sounds horrible...’” after alyssa orders. Stay safe.

Emma!” Alyssa called as Emma zoned out, staring at Alyssa’s soft features. Emma blinked a few times before coming back to reality. “Are you ready to order?” 

“What? Oh, can I just have the classic burger please? Medium?” Emma asked the waiter, her voice cracking slightly. 

Alyssa glanced down at the menu, chewing on her bottom lip anxiously. “May I please have the balsamic chicken apple salad, no cheese, with dressing on the side? Thank you,” she smiled. 

The waiter nodded, walking away from the couple. Emma frowned, looking over at Alyssa. “Are you sure that’ll be enough food? That doesn’t look like a very big salad..” 

“I’ll be fine,” Alyssa smiled slightly, tucking her hair behind her ear. “We have strict diets as figure skaters. We have to eat super healthy stuff so we don’t burn out and so we stay fit.” 

Emma sighed. “That still sucks. When was the last time you had...pizza?” 

“A sleepover with a bunch of other girls!” Alyssa replied. “A few years ago…” 

“Being a figure skater sounds horrible, why do you do it?” Emma questioned, pushing up her glasses. 

“It is rough,” the dark haired girl nodded. “But even with the crazy diet, the early morning and late night practices, insane competition, and my mom being on me all the time, I love the feeling I get when I’m on the ice. It’s like no one can hurt me, no one can bother me. I’m...I’m invincible. You know?” she explained, her eyes glazing over in joy.

“Yeah, I do,” Emma smiled. “It’s how I feel when I’m with my team and we play.” 

Dinner quickly finished for the two, and Emma walked with Alyssa out to her truck. She wanted to kiss her so badly, but it was only their first date, if it was a date, and Emma didn’t want to make Alyssa uncomfortable. 

“Do you want a ride home?” Emma asked quietly, leaning against her truck. “I don’t mind giving it to you.” 

“Oh, no, it’s okay,” Alyssa smiled. “Shelby’s gonna come pick me up. That way it’s not too suspicious to my mom.” 

“Okay, but if you need me to give you one let me know, I don’t-” Emma started, as Alyssa leaned over and kissed her. 

“I’ll see you at the rink, Emma. Drive home safe,” Alyssa laughed as Emma’s face turned red and Shelby pulled up. 

~~~

The rink was nearly empty when Emma showed up, except for a few other players on the team who also tended to be early. She immediately gravitated to Kevin, and began to tell him about her date the previous night, her face practically glowing. 

“She kissed you?!” Kevin asked, grinning so wide Emma swore she could see all of his teeth. 

“I know!” Emma nodded. “I invited her to come watch our game on Monday, I don’t know if she’ll come, though. Her mom’s a bitch.” 

“I’m sure she’ll try,” he reassured. “She can sit with Shelbs, she said she’s coming.” 

“I’ll tell her, thanks Kev.”

Judas skated over, stopping near the two. “Heard you went on a date, Em,” they winked. “Did you..you know, use your stick?” they nudged Emma, who stared at them blankly. 

“Do you mean sex?” Emma questioned. “Because no, I didn’t, you perv. God, why would you even ask that?”

The hockey players began to clear out after practice as the figure skaters headed onto the ice for their private sessions with their coaches. 

“I heard she was out on a date with some puck pusher, and she missed the coaching session her mom had lined up months ago,” one of the skaters commented as Emma sat down to take her skates off. Her name was embroidered onto her skates bag, but Emma couldn’t make it out. “Her mom was pissed.” 

“And she’s going to Sectionals?” the girl she was walking with scoffed. 

“I know. I should be the one going, not her!” 

Emma’s heart went cold. Had Alyssa blown off a coaching session just to go out with her? While it was sweet, she couldn’t help but feel incredibly guilty over the fact that her mom probably spent way too much money on the private session just for her daughter to blow it off to go on a date. Maybe it wasn’t them. Kevin was dating a figure skater too, he was with Shelby. But..he didn’t mention them going out on a date. There were a bunch of other players, and other skaters. 

“Hey, Maddie and Emma!” Alyssa smiled from the ice, waving to the two gossipers. 

“Hi, Alyssa!” they called back, taking off their blade guards and heading onto the ice to warm up. 

Emma was absolutely mesmerized as she watched the various skaters on the ice. She couldn’t begin to understand how these people received more hate than she did for their sport, all because it involved glitter. Being a ‘twirl girl’ or guy or whatever was hard work, and she could say that from her experience. 

Even though she couldn’t hear the music each skater moved in time with, she could feel it. She could feel it in their movements and how they felt so passionate in the moment. It was absolutely gorgeous to her. 

“So what did you think?” Alyssa asked, skating over to Emma. “That was my short program, I have to go practice my long. Sectionals are only...two weeks away!” 

“You were great,” Emma smiled, but she paused and frowned. “Did you blow off a training session just to go on our date last night?” she asked, her voice quiet. 

“No, I didn’t. One thing you’ll learn is figure skaters love to gossip about their competition in order to get in their heads. Don’t let them get in yours,” Alyssa explained, fixing her bun. 

“Does it bother you?” Emma questioned. “The gossip.”

“Not really. It used to, but now I block it out with my music or earplugs.” 

“That’s good,” the blonde smiled. “I’ll see you at the game Monday?”

Alyssa nodded. “I’ll try my best.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Comments and kudos aren’t necessary, but are greatly appreciated!


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